5 front-runners for Obama's Senate seat

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) may have the lowest approval rating (13 percent) of any governor in the nation – but he’s suddenly feeling the love. Would-be senators and their surrogates are beating a path to his door as Blagojevich mulls over how he will fill president-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

So far, he's been tight-lipped about his intentions. But that puts him in the minority in Illinois political circles, which are full of opinions about who should be appointed to the seat. Democratic leaders in the Senate prefer a centrist who can win a full term in 2010, while the state's black leaders - who represent the only constituency that still views the Blagojevich favorably - want Obama replaced by another African-American. Within the state’s congressional delegation, meanwhile, many want the promotion for themselves.

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Selecting an African-American successor would accomplish two goals for the governor: it would ensure there would still be a black member of the Senate and also might help prevent an African-American candidate from challenging Blagojevich in the 2010 primary – which could significantly boost his chances for re-election.

"I think it is a factor of a great deal of weight in my mind but it is not the only factor or the only consideration, and somebody could be the next Barack Obama who happens not to be an African American, and that person would be hard not to make a U.S. senator,” Blagojevich told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.

Blagojevich has said he will name Obama's successor around the Christmas holiday and he doesn’t just face pressure from within his own party - the wrong pick could open the door to a strong run by an ambitious Republican like Rep. Mark Kirk, who just won a fourth term in the House under tough conditions.

Here are the five most likely contenders for the appointment:

Tammy Duckworth: Duckworth is the favorite of the Washington establishment, including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who recruited her to run for the House in 2006. Her biography as an Asian-American woman who lost her legs in combat during the Iraq war would be compelling in a statewide race, and Blagojevich would be rewarding a loyal soldier in his administration.

But there are some risks to picking Duckworth, who currently serves as director of the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs. She has no elective experience and lost a very winnable open-seat House race despite having some of the leading party consultants -including Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod - working for her. In addition, her ties to the scandal-plagued Blagojevich could be politically damaging in a statewide bid, though her backers contend that those linkages will be old news after she's spent two years in the Senate.

Emil Jones: As president of the state Senate, Jones was one of the governor's few reliable allies during contentious intra-party legislative battles and selecting him would both pay back one of his most faithful allies and please his African-American base. Jones was also one of Obama's first political mentors, allowing the ambitious young state senator to sponsor high-profile legislation in the run-up to his 2004 U.S. Senate run and introducing him to well-connected backers.

But after more than two decades in the state legislature, he isn't known for any significant policy achievements in Springfield, and detractors argue that appointing a machine politician like Jones would be emblematic of the ethical woes facing the Blagojevich administration.